'A Star' Quilt

I posted a quick post about finishing this top on Saturday.  I thought I would have it quilted and bound within a day or two. . . and then I decided to go a little crazy with the quilting ;) I followed the The Giant Vintage Star tutorial by Jeni Baker over at In Color Order.  Making the top was quick! First, the pictures :)

It's all washed and crinkly and ready to go :) The quilt finished at 68 inches square just like the tutorial said it would.  Guess I am getting better at those 1/4 inch seams!  Also, I used Quilter's Dream Wool Batting.  Those of you who have been following me know this is my go to batting - have only made a couple that were not wool and so far have had no issues with washing and drying.....

As I said, the piecing of this quilt was quick.  I was very happy I have a 22" square ruler to help me with both the cutting of the blocks and squaring them up.  I don't think the process would have gone as smoothly without it.  I also realized after looking at all of the amazing star blocks people are posting on their blogs lately, that any star block that is constructed using 4 blocks by 4 blocks could be used to make a quilt. . . my aha moment LOL I might be making another using a different star block real soon! :) If you have already had this aha moment ages ago and have made a different big star quilt, I would LOVE to see it!! Email me or leave me a comment!

All but one of the middle green squares came from my stash.  I miscalculated (yes, there is a theme of miscalculations running through this blog LOL) and came up short.  I couldn't find another green that even came close to this one and couldn't find enough of any other green that I wanted to substitute.  My problem was that I had gone through a 'buy every solid fat quarter you can get your hands on' phase and I had NO idea what the fat quarter was. . . . Bella, Kona, Hawthorne Solids . . . who knew?? Off to the quilt shop near my house because they have a huge selection of Kona.  Do you know that they had not one green that even came close?? Turns out green is not an easy color to match ;)  OK, I'm not going to 'just make do' yet, and I jump in my vehicle and go to another quilt shop that is close to the house.  Head to the green section. . . . look at fat quarters, nothing close.  And then I looked down, OHHHH that one looks close!  Not only was it close - it was exact!  YAY doing the happy dance in the quilt shop! grin I buy it and I am off to the races!  Turns out it was Bella Solids by Moda. 

I quilted this with my walking foot on my Janome 7700.  Mostly I followed my quilting line but I did mark some of the lines.  I have to say that the marked lines are straighter! I used two different threads for the quilting, both Superior Masterpiece 50# cotton threads.  OK, so I would have preferred 40# but I did not notice until I got home that it was 50# . . . note to self, check that!  One matched the bright green exactly and the other matched the blue in the center exactly.  I did a line of quilting in each of the squares and changed thread. . . I decided this would be faster than marking the entire quilt. . . I think I may have been wrong about that!

So now I am pondering my next quilt. . . next two quilts actually.  One is going to be made from my Kaffe stash, the other from the Oakshott cotton that was delivered today.  At least I did the happy dance in the privacy of my own home today!  

Linking up with Kelly over at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday, Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a WHOOP WHOOP!, Link a Finish Friday over at Richard and Tanya Quilts, TGIFF being hosted by Amy over at Crafty Shenanigans, Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday and Lindsey over at Fort Worth Fabric for Fabric Frenzy Friday.  There's a lot of partying going on! Kick off the weekend right and go check them all out and get some inspiration! :)

Until next time, keep on quilting!